Published in over 6, 000 editions before the year 1900, The Imitation of Christ has been more widely read than any other book in human history except the Bible itself. It has been called “the most influential work in Christian literature, ” “a landmark in the history of the human mind, ” and “the fifth gospel.”
Now, and for the first time, comes an exhaustive edition of this classic work, a work that is bound to become a classic in its own right. Fr. John-Julian introduces Kempis and his Imitation in ways that will shock many who have read the book before. For example, Protestant devotees to the book may be astounded to discover that Thomas was not only a Roman Catholic but an ardent traditionalist contemplative monk as well. And devoted Catholic readers may be amazed to discover that he was a radical moral reformer and part of a group twice formally charged with heresy. Notes and introductions to every aspect of The Imitation open the meaning of this classic to the next generation of readers.
About the author
Father John-Julian, OJN, is an Episcopal priest and monk. He has been an actor, a professor (University of Rhode Island and Hampshire College), a parish priest (Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Connecticut), a TV commentator, a camp director, a bookseller, the Dean of a seminary (Seminary of the Streets in New York), a contemplative monk, a director of Social Worker training (Social Service Institute in Connecticut), an organizational consultant, an author of fifteen books, a founder of a religious order (the contemplative, semi-enclosed monastic Order of Julian of Norwich in Wisconsin which incorporates both monks and nuns with equal status under the same traditional vows), a waiter, a human relations trainer, a carpenter, a founder of a theater, a psychotherapist, a spiritual director, a hermit, a builder of three churches, an anti-war activist, a member of NAACP—all of this perfect background for a contemplative! Fr. John-Julian has tasted virtually everything the world has to offer and, finally, has chosen to live a life directly contrary to all that, a life constituted of the silence and solitude of contemplative monasticism. He has studied Julian of Norwich each day for over a quarter century.More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
4,485 Ebooks in this category
